Twenty-Three Mergers Approved in July

Four of July’s mergers occurred in California and all but one of the credit unions had assets of less than $50 million, according to NCUA’s monthly Insurance Activity Report posted in late August on the regulator’s website.

Sixteen of the small credit unions merged with larger counterparts to expand services to members, while only one merged because it was in poor financial condition and two consolidated due to the “inability to obtain officials” or were unable to find a new CEO, according to the NCUA report. One credit union merged because it lost its sponsor, one consolidated due to a loss or declining membership, one merged because of lack of growth and one consolidated with a state-chartered credit union.

The $7.3 million Delta Wye Federal Credit Union in Dorchester, Mass., which merged citing poor financial condition, posted a net worth of only 2.60% in 2012 and 3.06% on June 30, according to NCUA financial performance reports. The credit union, which was chartered in 1961 by the Electrical Workers Local 103 and served 1,789 members, consolidated with the $85.6 million River Works Credit Union in Lynn, Mass.

One of the smallest credit unions to merge was the $1.4 million Angelus Can Employees Federal Credit Union in Los Angeles, after its corporate sponsor shut down the Pneumatic Scale Angelus plant in November 2012, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Another very small credit union, the $2.8 million Harper & Row, Keystone Employees Federal Credit Union in Throop, Pa., merged because it was seeing its membership dwindle for more than 10 years. In December 2002, the credit union was serving 1,282 members. By June 30 of this year, it had only 832 members, according to Callahan & Associates.

Other mergers of note included the $56 million Security One Federal Credit Union in Arlington, Texas into then $763 million Texas Trust Credit Union in Mansfield, Texas; the $42 million Carepoint Federal Credit Union in Anaheim, Calif., into the $807 million Financial Partners Credit Union in Downey, Calif.; the $40.6 million NEO Federal Credit Union in Miami, Okla., into the $1.3 billion TTCU Credit Union in Tulsa, Okla., the $31 million Fort Bragg Community Federal Credit Union in Fort Bragg, Calif., into the $135 million Mendo Lake Credit Union in Ukiah, Calif.; and the $20 million Kilowatt Credit Union of Madison, Wis., into the $195 million Heartland Credit Union in Madison, Wis.